Windows 9 may be coming sooner than originally thought. Despite Microsoft’s mostly-predictable release cycle and some recent rumblings, we could get our hands on Windows 9 by the end of this year.

WZOR is back at, predicting that Microsoft will sign off on the Windows 9 RTM code on October 21. This isn’t the first time WZOR has claimed a 2014 launch either. In August of last year they reported having inside information that confirmed as much.

Whoever’s behind the WZor account seems confident enough in the information, taking to Twitter to challenge Paul Thurrott’s recent post that indicated an April 2015 launch for Windows 9.

Their Windows 7 projections were nearly right on the money. WZor had pegged the RTM for July 10 and it ended up being compiled on the 13th. The actual release happened nine days later.

If they’re accurate with Windows 9, then Microsoft may be hoping to push things along so that they don’t have to suffer through another holiday shopping season plagued by the ghost of Windows 8.

Consumer’s still haven’t warmed up to the radically different OS. To make things worse, it looks like Chromebooks actually struck a chord with shoppers at the end of 2013.

How could they possibly get a major upgrade ready so quickly? By polishing up Windows 8.2 and giving it a little bump.

Version numbers don’t mean what they used to. We’ve watched Chrome and Firefox sprint rapidly into double digits. Granted, they’re both web browsers… but the Ubuntu odometer ticks up once per year. There’s no reason Microsoft can’t follow suit. They’ve already made it clear that release cycles will be tightened up and you only need to look as far as Internet Explorer for proof.

This isn’t the same Microsoft that used to slowly squeeze out a new Windows or Office every three to four years. They’re churning out mobile apps updates on a regular basis just like everyone else, and so it’s possible that WZor is right.